Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday stoked a potential controversy when he called Arvind Kejriwal a “Veda Mukhyamantri” (mad chief minister), while recalling his own days in the police force.

“When I was in Kherwadi police station in Mumbai’s Bandra area, I did not get leave because there were Sena (led) riots. Similarly, yesterday (in Delhi), because of a ‘veda mukhyamantri’ (mad chief minister) sitting there (on dharna), I had to cancel the leave of policemen,” Shinde, who was at the receiving end of Kejriwal’s repeated diatribe, said.

Shinde’s remarks came while addressing a meeting at Hingoli in the Marathwada region, where he spoke about an instance in the 1970s, when as a policeman, he could not get leave after his marriage due to work pressure.

Kejriwal had called Shinde corrupt and inefficient and dared the home minister to evict him from the dharna venue near Rail Bhavan during his protest against the Delhi Police.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader’s 30-hour protest demanding suspension of five Delhi Police officials for dereliction of duty, which virtually transformed into a fight for control of the Delhi Police, was called off on Tuesday night after a compromise formula was worked out by the Centre under which two police officers were sent on leave.

The unprecedented agitation by the Delhi chief minister had threatened to disrupt the Republic Day parade in the national capital.